goodbye Pittsfield

It's been great as always. Looking forward to getting back West, tho.

Did a reading, a signing, sold some paintings. Feedback from the reading, and those who have read some or all of the book: priceless. It's a bit of a trick to not be attached to good words, praise, but, at the same time, use your skillful means as a producer of some work - you need to know how it works out in the world. and it's gratifying when you hear that it does. But nah, not attached to that. At all.

The last piece of eggplant, dinner with DeGroot.

Woke up before dawn this morning. Feels like something is up.
Squirrel in tree last night said hi but seemed preoccupied, maybe worried.
Send my book to my siblings a couple of days ago. When you're talking memoir, that's scary.
Watched The Last Wave last night. It's a fave, but still the story track eludes me.

Hedwig

I was telling friends in Ibiza about Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a day or so later, back at the Port Authority in NYC, waiting for a bus to Pittsfield, this young lady was standing in front of me

great movie.

old pictures

Walking the fantastic old tourist district in Vienna, I saw a gallery with this in the window. Nothing like straightforward advertising. What is it about old photos that so entrances us?

Where We Go To Remember Home

It doesn't really work the way we want it to, the remembering. The picture of the house - is that where it was? I'm having trouble. The hallways - where do they go? When will we be served? It seems like it's been forever.

St. Stephen Was Here...

This magnificent cathedral - it's HUGE - is now surrounded by hundreds of high-end shops, and thousands and thousands of high-end shoppers. I joined in the fun, too. But I was haunted by the different pictures of the two ages. What was central to each, what motivated each.

I love modern life: the convenience, the choices, the freedom (at least for me), the power. But I also sense something missing, something displaced by the hunger for acquisition. I guess it's up to each of us to find it in this modern age.

I thought I was going to quit drinking coffee in Vienna.

I'm an idiot.